#VieraVIPClub #IFA 2015 – Curved OLED and other Panasonic tech

Wow! It’s already been a week since I was jetting off to Berlin with the rest of the VieraVIPClub to get up close and personal with Panasonic’s latest televisual masterpiece – the CZ950 curved OLED TV.

Yup, Panasonic has allowed me to stay part of this elite group of bloggers and commentators for a second year and we were treated to a day at IFA 2015. As you may recall, I was flown over last year to meet the then top-of-the-range AX900, this year it was to visit Panasonic’s first consumer OLED telly.

The 65-inch 4K CZ950 is an incredible piece of work. The screen is as amazing as you would imagine but the care taken of its design is almost as equally breath-taking.

The gentle swooping curve of the screen is supported by what is tantamount to a chromed piece of modern art that sweeps beneath the panel.

The designer touches even creep around the rear of the television. This rarely-seen area has been backed with alcantara – you know, the suede-like material usually reserved for the seats in Lamborghinis, Maseratis, Aston Martins, and the like.

The picture-quality is astounding, and that is the most important thing. The blacks could be none more black, the colours are vivid and, as much as I hate the phrase, pop. I feel safe in stating that this is the best TV I have seen. Ever. It could be the best TV available right now.

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For now the Panasonic Viera TX-65CZ950V will only be available in its 65-inch size, with a price yet to be announced. Given the level the company is aiming at, not to mention its screen size and the price on OLED right now, at least expect to spend £6,000 when it lands in John Lewis, Selfridges, Harrods and such retailers.

As an added bonus, I lunched and chatted with a couple of the engineers who had flown over from Japan. Mr Sanada and Mr Urakawa graciously answered our questions and explained how they work to ensure that the ultra-high definition films you watch on your 4K Panasonic TV appear just how the Hollywood directors intended them to be seen.

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After this we were unleashed to explore the rest of what amounts to be a small village of Panasonic tech.

Naturally, I sprinted off to the Technics corner to play with their new audiophile headphones and meet the prototype of the planned direct drive turntable which is allegedly being aimed at Hi-Fi enthusiasts rather than DJs – we shall see.

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Technics also had some clever speaker tech which managed to reproduce the same acoustic quality no matter where in the room you are, or move to. The Ottava system is an all-in-one audiophile grade Hi-Fi set-up that incorporates a pair of speakers which are loaded with multi-angled tweeters that amount to 270 degrees, a spiral acoustic port and symmetrically placed woofers. In the demo room it worked beautifully and the music seemed to follow me around the space.

I had a look at some of Panasonics Internet of Things (IoT) products as well as the company’s 4G Nubo camera.

Rather than relying on your home network the natty Nubo 1080p Full HD camera is equipped with a wide angle 140° lens and can store its footage via Cloud or microSD. You can set it up to be triggered by motion detection (Passive Infrared (PIR) or Cloud Human Detection – not entirely sure what the latter is).

The camera will remain connected even if there’s no 4G as it will play nice over 2G, 3G and LTE too, as well as Wi-Fi b/g/n.

The camera can be used for video chats or for security – it has been weatherproofed and also has night vision skills.

There was a revisit to the smart house with its clever kitchen, interactive window, computerised mirror and other things of the near future. Apparently, in this future we will all need our own smoker/pickling machine!

I did like the hidden speakers in the floor and nice projected interactive displays that appeared on tables and work surfaces. But, please tell me that the food photos will not have got to such pandemic proportions that your kitchen will actually have cameras installed in the ceiling for the purpose of Instagramming your latest lasagne!